Not applicable.
This invention relates to houses, storage systems, and residential space-divisions, specifically to an improved means for dividing a house into flexibly re-sizable particularized activity spaces.
Dwelling requires space. There is, however, a limited amount of space available to accommodate an increasing number of individuals. Space is therefore a valuable commodity not to be wasted.
Currently only a small percentage of the typical house is used/occupied at any given time. Typically there are more rooms than occupants, and rarely is each occupant occupying a separate room at any given time. It is therefore advantageous to reduce or eliminate wasted domestic space by maximizing the amount of floor space devoted to the activity at hand while minimizing the amount of space devoted to activities which are not taking place (empty rooms). It will also be beneficial to provide a means for new, additional types of activity spaces to be introduced into the home without increasing the size of the house or without compromising the amount of space devoted to any particular activity.
Past efforts at applying space-saving strategies to the home have concentrated primarily on the efficient storage of inert property or the combining of multiple activities into a single space. Thus they have typically targeted their innovations on closets, cabinet spaces, and the like, or on murphy beds, trundle beds, and built-in ironing boards.
The problem with these aforementioned innovations is that they fail to maximize the amount of available space devoted to a particular activity by minimizing or eliminating unused or unoccupied space elsewhere in the house, so that the highlighted activity is spatially compromised. Another problem with the aforementioned innovations is that they fail to reduce the overall footprint of the house.
There exist however certain movable high-density storage shelf systems which address this problem in institutional or commercial environments. Such storage systems are typically comprised of a plurality of wheeled storage shelves or cabinets, movably mounted upon rails so as to permit adjacent shelf units to be moved into and out of abutting engagement with one another in order to eliminate or create an access aisle therebetween. These storage systems offer a fixed, limited amount of usable space that can be transferred from location to location as required for access to the constituent cabinets of the system.
Several such storage systems have been disclosedxe2x80x94for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,915,195 (1959) to Crosby, U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,354 (1975) to Young, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,309 (1976) to Taniwaki. Storage shelves of this type are never used in domestic applications but rather are typically employed in libraries and offices for the efficient storage of papers, books, and like articles. As such they exhibit various disadvantages relative to their use in the domestic environment in order to divide a house into flexibly re-sizable particularized activity spaces:
(a) These storage units fail to describe an integral means for enclosing the open sides of the space created between any two such cabinets in order to make an isolated, private space.
(b) These storage units fail to demonstrate a means for accommodating within them multiple different types of furniture configurations to support a variety of residential activities.
(c) These units fail to allow for the easy redecoration of their side panels.
(d) The chassis of these storage units do not allow for an inset area to accommodate the feet of a seated individual in such a way as to permit the comfortable use of an inscribed desk surface or the like.
(e) The safety-spacers disclosed in the prior art are not deployed automatically and, when deployed, obstruct access to and from the aisles that they maintain.
(f) These storage systems are incapable of preserving multiple open access aisles while being moved.
(g) These storage systems make no provision for providing electric power supply to the cabinets.
(h) These storage systems make no provision for providing telephone and data connections to the cabinets.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,450,451 (1969) to Lyman discloses a type of portable, multiple-use cabinet intended for xe2x80x9copenxe2x80x9d type schools as a space divider capable also of acting as a teaching station, a book storage area, a general storage area, or a wardrobe. In addition to the aforementioned disadvantages, this invention also suffers from its use of casters as a means to movably relocate said cabinets, which are not well suited to the controlled moving of units back and forth along a straight line to spontaneously and easily create and eliminate activity spaces therebetween. Moreover, it describes a fixed range of infill components that allow for a limited number of possible configurations and types of performance for these cabinets.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,546 (1996) to Gurin et al. discloses an isolated transportable, caster-mounted office workstation. While describing a means for integral power and telephone to be supplied to this workstation, it is otherwise highly specific in terms of its proposed use and describes no means for being used in combination with other such cabinets to divide a house into flexibly re-sizable particularized activity spaces in lieu of conventional, fixed rooms. In addition, Gurin""s pre-wired cabinet requires xe2x80x9cexternal connectors for phone and power hookupsxe2x80x9d that would require loose power and phone cords to be run to the cabinet if such a cabinet were moved away from an adjacent wall, which would present a dangerous tripping hazard and an unsightly appearance. As such, Gurin""s workstation does not describe a cabinet that could be used in sequence with other such cabinets in order to create flexibly re-sizeable domestic activity spaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,309 (1976) to Taniwaki discloses a xe2x80x9cmanually positioned safety devicexe2x80x9d for a xe2x80x9cmovable wheeled storage rackxe2x80x9d that requires its user to consciously deploy this safety device subsequent to entering an access aisle between two units of the storage rack described. As such, it is ineffectual unless the user sees this device and knows to deploy it. Furthermore, it is ineffectual if the user is aware of this device but neglects to deploy it. Also, while deployed it presents an obstruction that prevents access to and from the access aisle that it is maintaining if the access aisle is narrow, or, if the access aisle is large enough for additional users to bypass this safety device, it nevertheless presents a dangerous projection into the useful space of the storage rack. Lastly, the safety device described by Taniwaki is mounted on only one side of the storage racks of his invention and, due to this eccentric position, it is not easily used to push against the adjacent storage rack and thus allow a minimum access aisle to be maintained while the racks are being moved.
In accordance with the present invention a residential program xe2x80x9cdeckxe2x80x9d comprises a plurality of wheeled cabinets movably mounted upon fixed rails, each such cabinet individually supplied with a deployable privacy partition, integral access to electric power, telephone, and data, an automatically deployed safety-spacer, and capable of accepting both factory-finished and custom-fabricated furniture and fixtures packaged and arranged so as to be mounted thereto in order to provide all of the appurtenances necessary to particularize these spaces into functionally specific rooms.
Several objects and advantages of this invention are:
(a) to provide a residential program deck with an integral means for enclosing the open sides of the space created between any two of its constituent cabinets in order to render said space visually and aurally isolated from adjacent spaces;
(b) to provide a residential program deck that can accommodate multiple different types of furniture and fixture infill packages to support a variety of residential activities in lieu of the static, functionally-specific rooms contained in the conventional house;
(c) to provide a residential program deck in which the side panels of the constituent cabinets can be easily redecorated;
(d) to provide a residential program deck in which each constituent cabinet has a chassis with an inset area capable of accommodating the feet of a seated individual facing said cabinet, thus allowing said cabinet to contain an inscribed desk or table surface which can be comfortably used;
(e) to provide a residential program deck in which each constituent cabinet has a safety-spacer that is deployed automatically to prevent users from being inadvertently crushed between two such cabinets without requiring the users to first consciously lock the units, and which, when deployed, does not present an obstruction or hazardous projection;
(f) to provide a residential program deck in which multiple open access aisles may be preserved while the cabinets of the deck are being moved;
(g) to provide a residential program deck in which each constituent cabinet is supplied with access to electric power in order to support common household electrical appliances;
(h) to provide a residential program deck with cabinets capable of supporting telephone and data connections.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention are to provide a residential program deck with constituent fixed end cabinets capable of accommodating all residential furniture and fixtures (including such fixtures as toilets, sinks, bathtubs, showers, and dishwashers that require hot and cold water supply and the evacuation of waste water) within discrete, easy-to-operate cabinets that allow activity spaces to be easily and spontaneously created therebetween as a space-saving alternative to multiple permanent rooms, that minimizes the amount of wasted space in the house by allowing all available space to be assigned to the specific activity-spaces being used at any given moment, and that allows its constituent cabinets to be easily added to, subtracted from, modified, or exchanged without the need for costly renovation or remodeling. Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.